“According to Caroline Rose, co-author of the New Lines Institute report ‘most production happens in Syria, in labs she describes as ‘industrial-scale’. The operation is thought to involve at least 15 major sites, many on the coast, which is controlled by the Assad regime. It spans Damascus, Aleppo and Homs provinces, as well as areas on the borders with Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan. Since the regime rules with an iron fist, it’s clear that captagon production is only possible because the authorities turn a blind eye. Syria, diplomatically isolated, under Western sanctions, and until recently on poor terms with neighbouring Turkey and Iraq, is trying to diversify its revenue sources, even if that means being labelled a narco-state – an accusation Damascus rejects.” My sources suggest that Major General Maher al-Assad, the president’s brother and commander of the Syrian Republican Guard’s elite fourth armoured division, plays a key role. ‘ The fourth division oversees a series of industria
“The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion (to which few members of other civilizations were converted) but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact; non-Westerners never do.” —Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilisation and the Remaking of the World Order, 1996, p. 51